I've got a problem with a 6V AC buzzer on my Captain Fantastic pinball machine. The buzzer is supposed to buzz when you go "over the top" by rolling the score. I wanted to insure that I really had a broken buzzer and not some kind of open short or dirty relay contact.

I disconnected the suspect buzzer and then I connected my multi meter to the wires that buzzer had used. When the machine is in a state where the buzzer isn't supposed to buzz, I'm reading 17V AC across the buzzer wires. I would have expected no voltage. When the machine is in over the top mode and the buzzer is supposed to be buzzing, I am getting the expected 6V AC.

I'm thinking I must have some kind of short causing the 17V AC when I should have zero, but what's confusing me is that I get the correct 6V AC when the buzzer is supposed to buzz.

Everything else on the machine is working correctly.

Any ideas?

TIA!
Allen

I think I've run into stray voltages before on other EM work. Must be some kind of inductance thing?

Thanks for the idea to try the buzzer using the transformer. It is definitely a goner. I found an old AC buzzer on ebay, it doesn't match the round shape of the old buzzer, but it'll have to do!

Allen